The Holland/Belgium Bid Arrives In South America

Former Dutch legend and president of The HollandBelgium Ruud Gullit is visiting two prominent South American football leaders this weekend.

During a three-day round trip, Gullit and Harry Been, the CEO of the joint Belgian and Dutch bid for the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup, are meeting with the Paraguayan president of Conmebol, Nicolás Leoz.

Conmebol is the confederation of South American football associations, on a par with UEFA. Leoz is also a member of the FIFA Executive Committee, the 24 members of which will vote on the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups on 2 December of this year.

The trip kicks off on Thursday in Buenos Aires with a meeting with the major sports media of Argentina and South America.

Gullit and Been will explain to them what the added value of a World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands would be.

On Friday, a meeting is scheduled with the chairman of the Brazilian football association, Ricardo Teixeira, who is also a FIFA Executive Member.

Source: http://www.thebid.org/

Standard Liège shine in Athens

Belgian champions Standard Liège made up for their poor form in the Jupiler League with a superb 3-1 away win over the Greek side Panathinaikos in the third round first leg of the Europa League.

Axel Witsel gave Standard an early lead when he headed in Dieumerci Mbokani’s cross after just eight minutes.

Sixteen minutes into the match Milan Jovanovic doubled their lead when he took advantage of a poor mistake by Panathinaikos’ goalkeeper Mario Galinovic.

Lukas Vintra reduced the deficit for the home team early in the second half with another header.
But Igor de Camargo mad sure that the Belgian champions will go back to Liege with a two goal advantage when he scored his team’s third goal in the 74th minute after another superb pass from Jovanovic.

Hazard helps Lille to a famous victory over Liverpool

Belgian International Eden Hazard helped French side Lille to a historic 1-0 home victory over European giants Liverpool in the third round first leg of the UEFA Europa League.

Hazard scored the match winner six minutes from time with a beautifully curled free kick that found the back of the net deceiving Liverpool’s Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Riena.

Hamburg defeat Anderlecht

Anderlecht lost their third round first leg Europa League tie against Hamburg of Germany, but a first half goal from Jonathan Legear kept the Belgian side’s hopes of a comeback in Brussels next week.

Anderlecht’s defense was a disaster as they conceded the first goal after 23 minutes through Dutch defender Joris Mathijsen. His Compatriot Ruud Van Nistelrooy made it 2-0 for the home team five minutes before the break.

Legear got one back for the visitors with a beautifully taken free kick in the final minute of the first half.

But Czech midfielder David Jarolim secured the win from Hamburg with a superb volley from the edge of the area.

Théréau bagged a hat-trick as Charleroi crush Lokeren

Cyril Théréau scored a hat-trick to lead Charleroi to a comfortable 4-1 victory over Lokeren on Wednesday in a postponed match from week 22 of the Jupiler pro League.

It was the first win for "Les Zèbres" since beating Roeselare last December. They are now six points above the relegation playoff spot.